LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Las Vegas City Council unanimously voted on Monday to appoint former Vegas Chamber President and CEO Kara Kelley to the vacant Ward 2 seat, a temporary position that will last through next year.
Kelley's appointment came after another contender — City Planning Commissioner Serena Kasama — was nominated, but failed to get a majority of council members in support.
VIDEO: Steve Sebelius speaks to Kara Kelley, who will be filling the vacant Ward 2 seat
"It's a phenomenal opportunity, and I'm thrilled to have been chosen," Kelley told reporters outside the council chamber following the vote. "I want to make sure the ward feels properly and is satisfied that they were represented. There's nothing more important than that."
Kelley will fill a vacancy created Aug. 25, when incumbent Ward 2 Councilwoman Victoria Seaman resigned to accept a job as a regional director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Denver.
The council voted Sept. 3 to appoint a temporary replacement rather than hold a special election, which would have cost about $500,000 and wouldn't have filled the seat until December.
A total of 57 people applied for the job, but 17 were rejected because they didn't live in Ward 2. The remaining 40 resumes were sent to council members, who ranked their top choices.
Three finalists emerged from that process: Kelley, Kasama and former Howard Hughes executive and newsman Tom Warden.
On Monday, all three made short presentations to the council. Councilwoman Francis Allen-Palenske then nominated Kasama, the daughter of Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama.
Allen-Palenske touted Serena Kasama's roots in the district — she graduated from Faith Lutheran High School — her experience in real estate, her three years on the planning commission, and the fact that she would have been the first Japanese-American to serve on the council.
But when the votes were tallied, only Allen-Palenske and Councilman Brian Knudsen had voted for Kasama, with Mayor Shelley Berkley and three others voting no.
After that, both Councilwomen Nancy Brune and Olivia Diaz praised Kelley for her community involvement and work at the chamber. Kelley also sits on the Colorado River Commission of Nevada.
After Diaz moved to appoint Kelley to the council, members voted unanimously for her.
Kelley, after the meeting, told reporters her mother and grandmother — who worked as a housekeeper at the iconic Blue Angel Motel in downtown Las Vegas — would be amazed that she would eventually serve on the council.
"I have a long career of building coalitions, working behind the scenes," she said. "My name doesn't need to be on it, and so we may get to the end and there's nothing, there's no building, there's no statute, there's no 'You did great.' I don't get a day the city named after me, but that's OK, because if I've been able to help contribute to the conversation, hear what the folks in my ward are saying, and then work toward a solution that can work for the city and the ward, I think that's the biggest contribution I can make."
Kelley — who holds bachelor's and master's degrees — said she was the first in her family to go to college. "I'm the girl who's just grown up in the city. I've seen it grow. I've seen it expand," she said. "And I really felt that my experience and my skill set in who I am brought me to this place and is uniquely perfect for this opportunity at this time."
Kelley said she would focus on the budget, including prioritizing projects where funding has been delayed, addressing homelessness, and helping remove obstacles for small business in the city. She suggested that she'd meet constituents with mobile office hours.
And, she said, she wanted to give hope to residents of Ward 2.
"I think hope is needed at a time where there's so much derision in language, in our space, because what I have found is when you talk to people about the things that really matter to them, or you understand what their self-interest is, sometimes you can use how you find their self-interest and meld it with other interests to show them the bigger picture," she said. "And we have a lot still to do."